Gone off Eddie Izzard a bit although it pains me to say it

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

just that, really. I suppose I feel in my gut that his latest mammoth marathon effort (and every respect to him for achieving it as I was born in same year and couldn't even run for 5 mins) is not 100% about raising money for charity. I do wonder just how much "cor blimey you are just SO AMAZING and compassionate" type of validation any individual needs.

Janet, I think you are totally over reacting.

I said I've "gone off him a bit" and "it pains me to say it". How nasty is that? on a scale of 1 to 10? come on!

I am not the first and will not be the last person to sometimes be slightly suspicious of celebrity altruism.

You should be embarrassed, op.

Good grief, what melodrama for a Monday night!
OP consider yourself told off

Eddy Izzard is not transgender

He self defined as transgender when I heard him interviewed today, and I think by current definitions then that means he is.

Trans or transgender is sometimes used as an umbrella term, I think.

Eddie Izzard was never a must watch comedian for me, but I was mightily impressed by his initial ports relief efforts. Not seen any of it, this time around, so can't comment on that.

I don't care if I am. I'd rather overreact in that way than start a meanspirited thread like this.

And actually he has called himself transgender in the past, as well as transvestite, a male lesbian, and various other things.

He says that he is a lesbian trapped in a man's body.

And on that note, I'm going to bed.

I'm about the same age as him and trained couch to 5k and ran a Race for Life at the end of the training. I did get a buzz from telling everyone I did it (proud as punch emoticon) it was a bit self-congratulatory. But I only raised about £200 for charity - does that make it alright and someone only puts the boot in if you do something even harder and raise millions?

It did inspire me to think about running again and for that I thank him.

Well that I do find interesting after all these years. Where did you hear him interviewed SpeakNoWords?

I admire him for doing thirty odd miles a day, same as I admire people who do the Camino de Santiago or the tour de France. He got a !of of flak on the guardian comments though for being quoted as saying if he could do it, anyone can.
Personally I think people were looking to have a go when he probably meant people can start getting fitter at any age rather than running marathons. I do know some people in their 40s who did just that though. It is something I would like to consider one day: either cycling again or Nordic walking but starting off very slowly and building up. I think if I just signed up to do a half-marathon I would end up like Jade Goody or Jo Brand. Must start training, must start training...oops, it's tomorrow.
I have always admired Eddie for being out as a transvestite decades ago, remember him wearing lippy, nails , a lovely blue sparkly top and strutting onto that stage to Suede like he owned it. Echelon of cool. When he described himself back then as 100% straight "male lesbian" I had no issue whatsoever. Sadly he is now jumping on the trans bandwagon by referring to himself as transgender rather than transvestite. Donning hardhat for being called out as a terf but once you claim to be transgender rather than transvestite then the term "male lesbian" becomes far more problematic. Straight transvestite I can live with and would, find him very attractive but lesbians having to accept penises in the current climate, not so much. I guess he meant gender fluid. That would be a better moniker maybe: gender fluid cunning linguist! Le singe est dans l'arbre...

He's never floated my boat but I am amazed at what he has achieved with his marathons. But I do wonder why he does it.

At least you've admitted you are being unreasonable.

He was driving that bandwagon decades before most people had even heard of it, he didn't jump on anything

"I am not the first and will not be the last person to sometimes be slightly suspicious of celebrity altruism."
Nobody- but nobody does anything for charity for entirely altruistic reasons. Celebrity or otherwise. Sorry to break it to you........

chipped I think you may be thinking of Ted the Lizard?

He's a totally different athlete/comedian.

Radio 5 today, this morning. A clip I think has been used on the bbc news generally.

I'm gonna go against the goad grain here a little - OP I get what you say, altruism is often a thinly veiled attempt at self promotion for celebs. However, I think you've picked on the wrong celeb as there's some far more guilty of doing charity for their own profile than actually wanting to raise money.

Plucked out the air as an example - Jason Manford. There was a guy last year (I'm so sorry his surname escapes me but first name was Stephen) who's story went viral because he was dying and raising money for charity doing things like sky dives in his last weeks on Earth.

Jason Manford sort of 'befriended' him and did things like screenshot a picture of the donation he made to Stephen, and talked about how pally he was with Stephen's mum etc. Everyone applauded him but it just didn't sit right with me, it was all about him and how good he was to make this friend, rather than the young boy who was actually raising money despite not having much longer left to live!

That is news to me after all these years of thinking he was a runofthemill heterosexual transvestite.

Thing is that when anyone (celebrities or others) quietly donate, no one knows that they have done. Which is the point, really, isn't it? So I don't judge anyone on whether they have/have not donated. It's up to the individual. But those who actively do something that generates income for charity of their choice, shouldn't be damned. Rather praised & admired if it involves effort on their part. Yes, there is an element of showmanship but most celebs are performers!

I remember from ages ago that he described himself as a male lesbian, which kind of implies a gender fluid attitude, I suppose.

I'm involved with a charity that achieves a huge amount through the hard work of its 1,000s of volunteers.

There is always someone who likes to insinuate that people who volunteer are doing it because of the 'perks'. They are usually the type of person who would do nowt for nobody, so they assume everyone must be like themselves

"male lesbian" I'm sure that is insulting to someone; possibly lesbians.

Probably, it's his term not mine.

Yes Janet but there is a difference between transgender and transvestite, Eddie was flying the flag for transvestism aeons ago but still proclaiming to be "all boy". But I do stand corrected as this interview from 2013 shows he believes transvestite and transgender to be the same thing. Fair 'nuff.www.advocate.com/comedy/2013/03/08/eddie-izzard-atheism-transgender-and-invisible-bloke-upstairs

I can't slag off anyone who did the "Pavlov's Cat" routine. Genius!